Press release

Prisons and GS Petroliers through to Women's African Club Championship final

Jane Wacu (Prisons) tips the ball against MB Bejaia in the semifinals of the Women's African Club Championship

Antananarivo, Madagascar, April 10, 2013- Kenya Prisons and Algeria's GS Petroliers qualified to the final of the 2013 Women's African Club Championship following their victories against MB Bejaia (Algeria) and Al Ahly (Egypt) respectively in the semifinal matches held at Palais des Sports Hall in Antananarivo, Madagascar on Wednesday.

Now Prisons meet GSP in the final of the competition on Friday April 12 and Ahly take on MB Bejaia in the bronze medal match.

Four time champions Prisons clinched the fourth consecutive final ticket and the fifth in total following their considerable victory against MB Bejaia 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-22), while one time champions GSP secured their third final ticket in their history after beating Ahly 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18).

In the Play off 5 to 8 positions Pipeline (Kenya) and APR (Rwanda) won their respective matches against FAP (Cameroon) and Ndejje University (Uganda). Pipeline meet APR for the 5 and 6 positions and FAP Play Ndejje for the 7 and 8 standings.

Stef Auto (Madagascar) beat hosts Water Sport (Ethiopia) in the 9 and 10 position clash to clinch the 9th position.

The winners of the tournament will qualify to the FIVB Women's Club World Championship decided to be held in Switzerland next October.

The competition will be continued on Thursday with the ranking matches from 5 to 14 leaving only the final and bronze medal match for Friday.

Semifinal 1-4

GS Petroliers (ALG) beat Ahly (EGY) 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18)

GS Petroliers (Algeria) used Ahly (Egypt) errors in service and reception to achieve a straight sets victory (25-23, 25-22, 25-18) to qualify for the final. The match lasting 73 minutes showed better Algerian reception and also tactical services that put Ahly under pressure throughout the match.

The first set showed early Algerian dominance through the skilful setting from GSP setter Fatma Okazi who used the quick attacks through the centers Ladi Jamlet and Teresa Okonmah to send their spikes to the different positions. Ahly committed 7 service mistakes including the two set points to allow the Algerians to win narrowly 25-23.

The second set showed early Ahly lead through the strong hits from Sherihan Sameh and Svitlana until they lead 19-16 when Ahly again committed frequent reception mistakes to allow the Algerians to win the set 25-22.

The third set showed more disturbances for Ahly team in reception which was used well by the Algerian servers. Also the Algerian team controlled the net action through their blockers and succeeded to win widely 25-18 to clinch the final ticket.

"We played a great match today and we deserved this historic victory," Said GSP coach Salim Ashoury in the press conference after the match. "We succeeded to use our service to put a continuous pressure upon Ahly team. We played well in blocking in the first set and we succeeded to come back in the second set through our service and then we were physically better in the third set to win widely." he added.

Ahly assistant coach Mohamed Salah refereed the defeat to the problems in serving throughout the match. "We trained well for the service in the last two days, but during the match we lost one of our major strength as we lost the first and second set due to service errors, even our best server Svitlana Shvanska did play any spike service and played easy services which allowed the opponent to arrange their combinations." he commented.

Prisons beat MB Bejaia 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-22)

Prisons qualified for the fourth consecutive final after they powered past MB Bejaia 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-22) in 68 minutes.

MB Bejaia coach made a change in the setter as he started by the Senegalese Mame Ndiaye instead of the original setter Fella Rabahi who complained of injury. The first set showed early dominance for the Algerian team who used the back attacks to the opposite player Narimene Cherif who succeeded several times to penetrate Prisons attack. Prisons arranged their block against the Algerian attacks as Bracksides Khadambi and Diana Khisa stopped a lot of spikes from Bejaia star Fatma Djouad and thus Prisons increased the point difference several times till they won the set 25-16.

The second set showed much improvement in Bejaia blockers through Adama Diallo so Bejaia advanced 8-5 at the first TTO. Prisons regained their stability to arrange the quick attacks through Khadambi and the wings through Loice Jepkosgei to lead thereafter until they finished the set widely 25-15.

MB Bejaia tried to save the match as their coach made several substitutions to stop the Kenyan attacks, but Wacu started to set to the backline players to deceive the Algerian blocker to allow Prisons to lead 8-5 at the first TTO. With the time Prisons players became more motivated to continue their victory in straight set, while Bejaia repeated their reception and attacking mistakes and thus Prisons continued their lead till 16-11 at the second TTO. Prisons continued their superiority in attacks till they won the set 25-22 and the match in straight sets.

"I'm happy after this crucial victory and to qualify for the fourth consecutive final," Prisons coach David Lungaho said after the match. "Now we are looking forwards to win the fifth title and qualify again to the world championship. We lost against GSP in the group stage but we succeeded to qualify for the final after beating our compatriots Pipeline and then we beat the strong team Bejaia today.

Bejaia coach Hanni Abdelhalim referred the defeat to the injury of the main setter and playing with the substitute. "We faced today a very strong team who have long experiences from the African and world championships."

Playoff 5-8

Pipeline (KEN) beat FAP (CMR) 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-14)

Pipeline (Kenya) team hammered FAP (Cameroon) 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-14) in the playoff match for 5-8 positions lasting 63 minutes. Although the Kenyan team played without high motivation as they were heavy favourites to the cup, but they dominated most of the incidents through the skilful combinations conducted by the experienced setter Janet Wanja which was used well by the attackers Asha Makuto and Lucy Chege. FAP struggled specially in the second set to come to the match through the settings of Christine Mafoue and the spikes of Carole Ambatta, but they couldn't overcome the Kenyan tight block.

APR (RWA) beat Ndejje University (UGA) 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-18)

APR (Rwanda) took over Ndejje University (UGA) 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-18) in the second playoff match for 5 to 8 positions after 65 minutes. APR controlled the match from the start using the good reception and the disciplined attacks through the wings of the court. The Ugandan team tried to enter the match specially in the second set but the Rwandan team was more enthusiastic to win and continued their way towards a straight sets victory.

After a long marathon Stef Auto (MAD) trounced Water Sport (ETH) 3-1 (25-20. 21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14) in the 9 and 10 position match. Stef players were more motivated in front of their crowd to gain the 9th position after a great fight.

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